Folding chair



July-20 1954 J. B. ADLER 2,684,111

FOLDING CHAIR Filed July 14. 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l Iln. lull, III,... 2o l 1 i 2 J I J 33\ 2| I ./[8 I7@ i i Il*`d l is ifl a3 26 #we a 2a S NVENTOR.

BY fvmw ,rr-rofl NEY.

I Jol-IN B. ADLER.

J. B. ADLER FOLDING CHAIR July 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 14, 1949 INVENTOR.

Jal/1v 8. ADLER.

Patented July 20, 1954 FOLDING CHAIR John B. Adler,`Grosse Ile, Mich., assigner to Shwayder tion of Colorado Brothers, Denver, Colo., a corpora- Application July 14, 1949, serial No. 104,669 2 claims. (c1. 155-439)- This invention relates to folding chairs and more particularly to the type of chair which in cludes a pair of tubular front legs, a pair of tubular rear legs, a seat interposed between said legs, and pivotally joined thereto, together with a back rest, pivotally joined to the rear pair of legs, and a pair of arm rests pivotally joined at their rear ends to said back rests, and with intermediate portions of such arm rests pivotally joined to the upper ends of said legs.

Heretofore in chair constructions of this type the arm rests were pivotally joined only to the top ends of the front legs, while the rear legs were connected with the front legs by a suitable linkage.

In the present device, the linkage is omitted as a predetermined relationship is established between the front and rear legs by the novel telescoping rear leg construction hereinafter described.

Heretofore when the chair was unfolded to occupant-supporting position, the upper ends of the rear legs of the chair would cooperatively7 engage the under surface of the arms. when the chair was folded, or collapsed, the upper ends of said rear legs would move away from said arms, but would be retained by the connecting link between said pairs of front and rear legs.

By the present construction a portion of the rear legs is at all times in engagement with the chair arms, and this is accomplished by making said rear legs in two parts, with one part slidably telescoped within the other.

It is the further object of this invention to provide a rear leg construction for folding chairs of this type wherein the lower portion of each rear leg is pivotally joined to the chair seat and to the lower end of the chair back rest. A telescoping tube is slidably positioned within the upper end of each of said rear legs, while the upper end of said tube is pivotally joined to the chair arms.

Ihese and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the folding chair in occupant supporting position.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

Figure 3 is a similar view with the chair folded; and

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Fig. 5 is a similar View to Fig. 3 variation.

showing a However,

Fig. 6 is a section on 5 6, Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a section on 'I-l, Fig. 6.

It will be understood that the above drawings illustrate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims .here` after set out.

Referring to the drawings, the folding chair includes a pair of parallel spaced front legs Il, preferably of tubularl construction, with closure caps I2 secured upon their upper ends. Similar ly there is a pair of parallel spaced rear legs I3, preferably of a tubular construction, such shown in Figure 2.

Interposed between each of said front legs and rear legs are the tubular cross braces I4, whose downturned end portions are joined to interior portions of said legs as by the rivets I 5.

Interposed between said front and rear legs a hollow tubular U-shaped seat frame I6 within which is secured a suitable seat element, not shown in the drawing.

Said seat frame, hereafter referred to as the seat, is pivotally joined at I 'I intermediate its front and rear edges to the front legs Il. Brackets I8 are arranged upon opposite sides of seat I6 at the rear vends and are secured thereto by the rivets I9. A

It will be noted that the ends of the tubular element I6 which forms a part of the seat are closed by the caps Iii.

Back rest 20 with back support Ztl as shown in Figures land 2 is arranged between rear legs I3 and is pivotally joined at 2| to the bracket IS and by the same pivot also joined to said rear legs.

The formed arms 22 with downwardly extending edges 23 to form the hollow interior 2li are pivotally joined at their rear ends at 25 to intermediate portions of the back rest 20.

Referring to Figures 2 and l particularly, brackets 26 are positioned within the hollow porn tion 24 of said arms and secured thereto such as by welding along the contacting surface 2l. Said bracket is bifurcated and includes a pair of vertical spaced downwardly projecting bracket elements 28.

The upper ends of front legs II respectively project up into bracket elements 28 and are pivotally joined thereto at 29 as shown in Figure 2.

Telescoping tubes 30 are slidably projected down into the upper portions of rear legs I3, the upper ends of tubes 30 having formed thereon an annular portion 3I of slightly increased diameter to thereby define the annular stop 32. Hollow cap 33 is projected over the upper end of tube adjacent its enlarged portion 3i, and the tube as well as said cap 33 are projected up into bracket elements 28 and pivotally joined thereto are the transverse rivet 34.

It will be noted as shown in Figure 2 that the pivot 34 is displaced rearwardly from the pivot 23 and is preferably positioned above the same to prevent possible interference of the upper ends of the chair legs when the same has been folded into the position shown in Figure 3.

In normal operation when a chair has been unfolded to occupant supporting position as shown in Figures 1 and 2, it appears that the tubes 3i) have been projected downwardly within the upper ends of hollow tubular rear legs I3, so that the upper ends of said legs are in cooperative registry with the annular stops 32, formed at the upper ends of tubes 30 in the manner shown in Figure 4.

Thus a positive stop is provided which will assure a rigid relationship of the respective parts of the folding chair when the seat IE has been pivoted to the horizontal position shown in Figure 2.

On the other hand, as the chair is folded or collapsed towards the position shown in Figure 3, it is apparent that the arms 22 will be pivoted upwardly into substantial alignment with the rear legs I3 and at the same time the telescoping tubes 36 will slide upwardly within legs I3 as indicated in Figure 3. It is contemplated that the outer surface of the tubes 30 cooperatively engages the interior surfaces of the tubular legs I3 so that the latter guide the sliding movements of said tubes.

By the present instructions, it is apparent that the arms 22 are pivotally joined to the upper ends of the front legs as well as the rear legs, but that the rear legs are constructed with a telescoping portion permitting their elongation so that the chair will be folded substantially to the position in Figure 3.

By this construction the use of connecting links between the respective front and rear legs is eliminated, this being possible by the telescoped rear legs operable in the manner above fully described.

A slight variation of the present invention is shown in Figures 5, 6, and 7 wherein instead of using the hollow pivotally mounted telescoping tube 33 as shown in Figures 3 and 4, a solid bar 35 of rectangular cross-section is employed.

Said. bar is pivotally joined to the bracket 23 at its upper end by the rivet 36, while its opposite end slidably projects through the guide slot 38 formed in the top of cap 31 which fits over the upper ends of rear legs I3.

The function and operation of bar 35 is identical with the function and operation of the tube 30 shown in gures 3 and 4, Ihowever instead of cooperatively engaging the interior surfaces of hollow rear legs I3, said bar is slidably guided within the transverse slot 38 in the top of the rear leg caps 31.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the claims which follow for determining the scope thereof.

I claim:

l. In a folding chair including a pair of front legs and a pair of rear legs, a seat pivoted to said front and rear legs, a back pivoted to said seat and to said rear legs at a common pivot point, a pair of arms pivoted to the back with intermediate portions thereof pivoted to said front legs, and telescoping tubes slidably extending into the upper ends of said rear legs, with the upper ends of said tubes pivotally joined to said arms independently of the pivotal connection of said front legs therewith, the upper ends of said tubes having portions of increased diameter defining stops adapted to seat upon the upper ends oi' said rear legs upon unfolding of the chair to occupant supporting position.

2. In a folding chair including a pair of front legs and a pair of rear legs, a seat pivoted to said front and rear legs, a back pivoted to said seat and to said rear legs at common pivot points, a pair of arms pivoted to the back with intermediate portions thereof pivoted to said front legs, transversely slotted caps upon the upper ends of said rear legs, and telescoping bars slidabiy ezitending through the slots in said caps and into the upper ends of said rear legs, with the upper ends of said bars pivotally joined to said arms rearwardly and independently of the pivotal connections of said front legs with said arms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name ate 2,155,522 Adler Apr. 25, i939 2,525,876 Denney Oct. I7, IE5() 2,554,915 Nelson Aug. 21, i

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 322,486 Great Britain Dec. 3, 'i329 '764,004 France Feb. 26, i934.- 

